PR: TeenTix announces winners of 2014 Teeny Awards, $26k raised for youth arts access

MEDIA INFORMATION
Monday, September 22, 2014

Teeny Awards Dinner + Ceremony raises $26,000 for youth arts access, recognizes local arts achievements

Seattle, WA – On Saturday, September 20th, arts leaders and teenage arts enthusiasts gathered at EMP Museum to celebrate TeenTix’s 10th anniversary at the 6th annual Teeny Awards, hosted by writer and performer Lindy West.

The Teeny Awards, given annually by The New Guard, TeenTix’s youth arts leadership society, celebrate the best in local arts and culture according to teen arts patrons. This year’s awards featured new categories designed to celebrate those qualities that young arts-goers look for when they seek out arts experiences, such as THE KINDLING AWARD for the work that most artfully illuminated a social issue or sparked civic dialogue (won by the Ignite Seattle series at Town Hall) or THE BLEEDING EDGE AWARD for an unexpected contemporary work (won by Seattle Art Museum’s “Echo”).

The New Guard also introduced a surprise category at the awards, Best Youth Engagement Program, won by SIFF’s FutureWave program and presented by New Guard member Coco Allred, who explained that FutureWave was selected because they engage youth both as programmers and participants.

With EMP Museum’s Sound Off!, Young Americans’ Theatre Company, NFFTY (the National Film Festival for Talented Youth) and FutureWave all taking home awards, the evening was truly a celebration of the rich diversity of youth-centric programming offered by local arts organizations. At the same time, Seattle Shakespeare Company was honored with the EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN AWARD for their achievements in bringing old works to life for a new generation of audiences, and Seattle Opera got the nod for BEST MUSIC ORGANIZATION, proving that, like adult audiences, young people’s interests and values as arts patrons are broad and diverse.

TeenTix Executive Director Holly Arsenault presented commemorative plaques to TeenTix’s ten founding partner organizations, which joined together in 2004 under Seattle Center’s leadership to form TeenTix. TeenTix’s partner-based youth arts access model remains unique in the field. TeenTix now comprises 54 partner organizations representing a wide variety of art forms. Arsenault praised the founders’ vision in seeking a community-wide solution to a community-wide problem.

At the dinner preceding the awards, supporters raised $26,000 for TeenTix, more than doubling last year’s total. Virginia Anderson, former Seattle Center director, Carlo Scandiuzzi, ACT Theatre Executive Director, and TeenTix alumnus Ashraf Hasham all spoke to the program’s indispensible role in the community.

TEENY AWARDS WINNERS, 2014

BEST FRONT-OF-HOUSE EXPERIENCE: 5th Avenue Theatre

BEST FILM ORGANIZATION: NFFTY, The National Film Festival for Talented Youth

THE KINDLING AWARD for the work that most artfully illuminated a social issue or sparked civic dialogue: Ignite Seattle series, Town Hall

BEST MUSEUM OR ART GALLERY: MOHAI

THE EVOLUTION AWARD for the work that best showcased the work of young artists or engaged topics related to youth: Sound Off! 2014, EMP Museum

BEST DANCE ORGANIZATION: Pacific Northwest Ballet

THE EVERYTHING OLD IS COOL AGAIN AWARD for a great work first created 50 or more years ago: Seattle Shakespeare Company (Note: For this award, The New Guard decided to reward not a single event, but an organization that they feel embodies the spirit of the award in everything it does, bringing old works to new life for a new generation of audiences.)

BEST MUSIC ORGANIZATION: Seattle Opera

THE BLEEDING EDGE AWARD for an unexpected contemporary work: Echo, Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park

BEST THEATRE: Young Americans’ Theatre Company

THE KALEIDOSCOPE AWARD for the most transporting work: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Book-It Repertory Theatre

BEST CIVIC, CULTURAL, or LITERARY ORGANIZATION: Town Hall

THE SCHOOL IS HARD AWARD for the funnest way to not think about finals: Monty Python and the Holy Grail Teen Night, SIFF

BEST MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ORGANIZATION: Cornish College of the Arts

BEST DESIGN for great design: Hound of the Baskervilles, Seattle Repertory Theatre

BEST YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM: Futurewave at SIFF

FAVORITE ORGANIZATION: Young Americans’ Theatre Company

A full list of nominees follows.

TEENY AWARDS 2014 NOMINEES

ORGANIZATION AWARDS
Celebrating the region’s most teen-friendly arts organizations

1. FAVORITE ORGANIZATION
Voted on in real-time at the Teeny Awards ceremony
All TeenTix partner organizations nominated except reigning favorite organization, EMP Museum.

2. BEST FRONT-OF-HOUSE EXPERIENCE
For the partner organization with the most welcoming and helpful box office staff, greeters, ushers, etc.
All TeenTix partner organizations nominated

3. BEST THEATRE
5th Avenue Theatre
ACT Theatre
ArtsWest
Balagan Theatre
Book-It Repertory Theatre
Cornish College of the Arts
Driftwood Players
Intiman Theatre Festival
Jet City Improv
New Century Theatre Company
On the Boards
Pork Filled Players
Renton Civic Theatre
Seattle Children’s Theatre
Seattle Musical Theatre
Seattle Public Theater
Seattle Shakespeare Company
SiS Productions
Taproot Theatre
The 14/48 Projects
Unexpected Productions
UW UTS
UW School of Drama
Washington Ensemble Theatre
Young Americans’ Theatre Company

4. BEST MUSEUM or GALLERY
ArtsWest
Bellevue Arts Museum
Burke Museum
Cornish College of the Arts
EMP Museum
Henry Art Gallery
MOHAI
Seattle Art Museum & Seattle Asian Art Museum
The Wing Luke Museum

5. BEST DANCE ORGANIZATION
Cornish College of the Arts
On the Boards
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Spectrum Dance Theater

6. BEST FILM ORGANIZATION
Grand Illusion Cinema
NFFTY: The National Film Festival for Talented Youth
Northwest Film Forum
Pacific Science Center’s IMAX & Laser Dome
Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)
Three Dollar Bill Cinema

7. BEST CIVIC, CULTURAL, or LITERARY ORGANIZATION
Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
Seattle Arts & Lectures
Seattle Center
Town Hall

8. BEST MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ORGANIZATION
ArtsWest
Cornish College of the Arts
Edmonds Center for the Arts
EMP Museum
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
On the Boards

EVENT AWARDS
Works must have been produced at a TeenTix partner organization between July 2013 and June 2014

9. THE EVOLUTION AWARD
For the work that best showcased the work of young artists or engaged topics related to youth

#ICONIC: Power and Pop Culture at Wing Luke Museum
Bo-Nita at Seattle Repertory Theatre
NFFTY: The National Film Festival for Talented Youth
Ping Pong Summer, Northwest Film Forum
She’s Come Undone, Book-It Repertory Theatre
Sound Off! 2014 at EMP Museum
The Wrestling Season, Young Americans’ Theatre Company

10. THE KINDLING AWARD
For the work that most artfully illuminated a social issue or sparked civic dialogue

Ignite Seattle! series, Town Hall
Impenetrable, SiS Productions
The Minstrel Show Revisited, Spectrum Dance Theater
Rapture, Blister, Burn, ACT Theatre
Sanctum, Henry Art Gallery
Translations Film Festival, Three Dollar Bill Cinema
The Whipping Man, Taproot Theatre Company

11. THE EVERYTHING OLD IS COOL AGAIN AWARD
For a great work first created 50 or more years ago

Canzonetta, Cornish College of the Arts
Dresden Concertos with Rachel Barton Pine, Seattle Baroque Orchestra/Early Music Guild
Lysistrata, Intiman Theatre Festival
Richard II, Seattle Shakespeare Company
The Sleeping Beauty, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Untuxed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Seattle Symphony
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Seattle Repertory Theatre

12. THE BLEEDING EDGE AWARD
For an unexpected contemporary work

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Washington Ensemble Theatre
Black Angels, Seattle Symphony
The Creation Project 2014, Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas
Echo, SAM Olympic Sculpture Park
Kylian + Pite, Pacific Northwest Ballet
The Suit, Seattle Repertory Theatre
The Walworth Farce, New Century Theatre Company

13. THE KALEIDOSCOPE AWARD
For the most transporting work

#chicagoGirl, SIFF
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Book-It Repertory Theatre
Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic, EMP Museum
Light Reign, James Turrell Skyspace, Henry Art Gallery
Miro: The Experience of Seeing, Seattle Art Museum
Les Miserables, Balagan Theatre
A World of Paper, A World of Fashion, Bellevue Arts Museum

14. THE SCHOOL IS HARD AWARD
For the funnest way to not think about finals

14/48: The World’s Quickest Theatre Festival, The 14/48 Projects
Laser Ring, Seattle Laser Dome + Seattle Opera
Legend of Zelda, Seattle Symphony
Monty Python and the Holy Grail – Teens Special!, SIFF
Sing-Along Sound of Music, Edmonds Center for the Arts
Totally Wicked, Seattle Men’s Chorus
Upside Downton, Jet City Improv

15. THE DESIGN AWARD
For great design

The Boy at the Edge of Everything, Seattle Children’s Theatre

Celluloid Seattle: A City at at the Movies, MOHAI
Fifth of July, UW School of Drama
Hound of the Baskervilles, Seattle Repertory Theatre
Kylian + Pite, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Little Shop of Horrors, ACT Theatre + 5th Avenue Theatre
Zoe | Juniper: BeginAgain, On the Boards

ABOUT TEENTIX

Founded by Seattle Center in 2004, TeenTix is an arts access and engagement program for teenagers. TeenTix is best known for making it possible for any teenager to buy a five-dollar, day-of-event ticket at 54 arts organizations throughout the Puget Sound region. TeenTix believes that arts participation is a crucial form of civic engagement, and therefore aims to empower young people to take an active role in shaping their arts community as audience members, influencers, patrons, leaders, and critics. Since 2004, TeenTix has served nearly 50,000 area youth. In 2013, TeenTix began a three-year transition from Seattle Center public program to independent organization.

TeenTix is the recipient of the 2014 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award in the Future Focus category.

To learn more about TeenTix, please visit www.teentix.org